It’s that time again word-wonderers! Welcome to today’s episode of An Assemblage of Grandiose and Bombastic Grandoliquents. Keep your head on straight, because today’s word is ‘tsansa’.

Tsansa is a human head shrunk as a war trophy specifically by the Jivaro people of Equador. You might be thinking - ‘what?!’ - but allow me to explain. Though headhunting has occurred in several other regions of the world, this practice of head shrinking has only been documented in the northwestern region of the Amazon Rainforest, and the only known tribes to have shrunken human heads are those of the Jivaroan tribes. The practice of preparing shrunken heads was first due to religious beliefs - as shrinking the head of the enemy was believed to harness their spirit and compel him to serve the shrinker and prevent the soul from avenging his death. In the shrinking head tradition, it is believed that coating the skin in ash keeps the ‘muisak’ or avenging soul from seeping out.

Bizarrely, Westerners created an economic demand for shrunken heads, and there was an awful increase in the rate of killings in an effort to supply tourists and collectors. The terms ‘headhunting’ and ‘headhunting parties’ evolved from this practice.

Tsantsa itself is borrowed from the Spanish ‘tsantsa’, which itself is borrowed from the Shuar language - that of the Ecuadorian indigenous peoples - as tzantza. Interestingly, ‘shuar’ literally translates as ‘people’. Shuar is one of twelve indigenous languages still spoken in Ecuador today. The Shuar language is considered part of the Jivaroan language tree, and embodies one of the most well-known tribal groups in the Amazonian jungle region.

Not to be confused with tsantsa, tsentsak is another Shuar word meaning invisible pathogenic projectiles or magical darts utilized in indigenous practices for the purposes of sorcery and healing. Tsentsak are believed to possess their own agency and volition as living spirits that constantly desire to kill and consume human flesh. A shaman must learn to control their darts lest they escape and cause unintended harm. Simple!

Isn’t language wonderful?

Written by Taylor Davidson, Read by Zane C Weber

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